JPWO2020079755A1 - Information providing device and information providing method - Google Patents

Abstract

The confusion level determination unit (4) determines the confusion level of the occupant using the occupant state information acquired by the occupant state acquisition unit (3). The recognition degree determination unit (5) uses the surrounding condition information and control information acquired by the own vehicle status acquisition unit (2) and the occupant status information acquired by the occupant status acquisition unit (3) to obtain the peripheral condition of the vehicle and the surrounding condition of the vehicle. Determine the occupant's awareness of automatic control. The information generation unit (6) is based on the surrounding situation information and control information acquired by the vehicle status acquisition unit (2), the confusion level determined by the confusion level determination unit (4), and the recognition level determination unit (5). Information to be provided to the occupants is generated using the determined recognition level.

Description

The present invention relates to an information providing device and an information providing method for providing information on vehicle control to an occupant.

Conventionally, there is known an information providing device that allows an occupant to easily grasp the cause of a sudden movement when the own vehicle suddenly moves due to automatic control of the vehicle.
For example, the vehicle display device described in Patent Document 1 determines whether or not automatic control of the own vehicle is executed according to the surrounding conditions of the own vehicle, and the automatic control is executed. If it is determined, an image showing the surrounding conditions including the cause of the automatic control is generated based on the surrounding conditions, and the generated image is displayed on the image display means provided in the own vehicle.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2017-187839

Conventional information providing devices such as the vehicle display device described in Patent Document 1 display an image only when a sudden operation occurs in the own vehicle. Therefore, images are displayed for unnecessary scenes and unnecessary contents such as when the occupant can predict the sudden movement in advance and when the cause of the sudden movement can be recognized, which causes annoyance to the occupant. It was. In addition, since the image is not displayed when an operation other than the sudden operation occurs, the occupant who cannot recognize the cause of the operation is anxious. As described above, the conventional information providing device has a problem that it cannot provide information in just proportion.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide just enough information.

The information providing device according to the present invention includes a vehicle status acquisition unit that acquires information indicating the surrounding conditions of the vehicle and information related to automatic control of the vehicle, and an occupant status acquisition unit that acquires information indicating the status of the occupants of the vehicle. The confusion level determination unit that determines the degree of confusion of the occupants using the information acquired by the occupant status acquisition unit, and the surrounding conditions of the vehicle and the surrounding conditions of the vehicle using the information acquired by the own vehicle status acquisition unit and the occupant status acquisition unit. The recognition level determination unit that determines the recognition level of the occupant for automatic control, the information acquired by the vehicle status acquisition unit, the confusion level determined by the confusion level determination unit, and the recognition determined by the recognition level determination unit. It is provided with an information generation unit that generates information to be provided to the occupants using the degree.

According to the present invention, in addition to the information indicating the surrounding condition of the vehicle and the information regarding the automatic control of the vehicle, the information to be provided to the occupants is generated based on the information indicating the condition of the occupants of the vehicle. It is possible to provide just enough information.

It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the information providing apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the information generation table which the information providing apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 has. It is a flowchart which shows the operation example of the information providing apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. 4A, 4B, and 4C are diagrams showing an example of providing information of the information providing device 1 according to the first embodiment. It is a figure which shows the hardware configuration example of the information providing apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG.

Hereinafter, in order to explain the present invention in more detail, a mode for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Embodiment 1.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the information providing device 1 according to the first embodiment. The information providing device 1 is mounted on the vehicle. Further, the information providing device 1 is connected to a vehicle control device 10, an input device 11, and an output device 12 mounted on the same vehicle.

The vehicle control device 10 includes various out-of-vehicle sensors such as a millimeter-wave radar, LIDAR (Light Detection And Ringing) or corner sensor, and various V2X (Vehicle to Everything) communication devices or GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) receivers and the like. It is connected to the aircraft and realizes automatic control of the vehicle (including driving assistance) while monitoring the surrounding conditions. Further, the vehicle control device 10 realizes automatic control (including driving support) of the vehicle while transmitting and receiving information with a roadside unit equipped with an optical beacon or an external device mounted on another vehicle or the like. You may.

The vehicle control device 10 outputs information (hereinafter, referred to as "control information") indicating the contents of automatic control of the vehicle such as acceleration, braking, and steering. The control information may include not only information related to the control currently being operated but also information related to the control scheduled to be operated in the future. Further, the vehicle control device 10 outputs information indicating the surrounding condition of the vehicle (hereinafter, referred to as "peripheral condition information") that causes the automatic control of the vehicle to operate.

The input device 11 is a microphone, a remote controller, a touch sensor or the like for receiving an input by an occupant in a vehicle, and a camera, an infrared sensor, a biosensor or the like for monitoring the state of the occupant. The input device 11 outputs information indicating the state of the occupant detected by using a microphone, a remote controller, a touch sensor, a camera, an infrared sensor, a biological sensor, or the like (hereinafter, occupant state information). The occupant state information includes at least one of the occupant's facial expression, line of sight, behavior, voice, heart rate, electroencephalogram, and sweating amount. In addition, the input device 11 recognizes the individual by using the face image or voice of the occupant, and generates information indicating the experience value of each occupant with respect to the automatic control of the vehicle, such as the number of occupants or the occupancy time. , May be included in the occupant status information. The occupant status information is not limited to the above example, and may be any information indicating the occupant status.

The output device 12 is an audio output device such as a speaker, a display device using liquid crystal or organic EL (Electroluminescence), or a handle or seat having an actuator built-in and capable of vibrating.

The information providing device 1 includes a vehicle status acquisition unit 2, an occupant status acquisition unit 3, a confusion degree determination unit 4, a recognition degree determination unit 5, an information generation unit 6, and an information generation table 7. The target to which the information providing device 1 provides information can be not only the driver but also all a plurality of occupants, but here, for the sake of simplicity, it is assumed that there is only one occupant.

The own vehicle status acquisition unit 2 acquires control information indicating the control content of the own vehicle and peripheral situation information that has become a control factor from the vehicle control device 10 and outputs the control information to the occupant state acquisition unit 3 and the information generation unit 6. ..

The occupant state acquisition unit 3 acquires the occupant state information from the input device 11 and the control information and the surrounding situation information from the own vehicle status acquisition unit 2, and obtains the acquired information from the recognition degree determination unit 5 or the confusion degree determination unit 4. Output to. Specifically, the occupant state acquisition unit 3 acquires control information from the own vehicle status acquisition unit 2 and detects whether or not automatic control of the vehicle is activated based on the control information. Then, when the occupant state acquisition unit 3 detects that the automatic control of the vehicle has been activated, the constant occupant state acquisition unit 3 can know the change in the occupant state during a certain period of time (for example, 1 minute) before and after the operation. The time-series data of the occupant state information within the time is output to the confusion degree determination unit 4 and the recognition degree determination unit 5. Further, when the occupant state acquisition unit 3 detects that the automatic control of the vehicle has been activated, the state change between the own vehicle and its surroundings during a certain period of time (for example, 1 minute) before and after the operation including the operation is changed. As can be seen, the time-series data of the control information and the surrounding situation information within the fixed time is output to the recognition degree determination unit 5.

The confusion level determination unit 4 acquires the occupant state information from the occupant state acquisition unit 3 and determines the confusion level of the occupant based on the occupant state. For example, the confusion level determination unit 4 has a confusion level of "low" if the sound pressure is less than 60 dB, and a confusion level of "medium" if the sound pressure is 60 dB or more and less than 70 dB, based on the volume of the voice uttered by the occupant. If the pressure is 70 dB or more, the degree of confusion is determined as if the degree of confusion is “high”. The confusion level determination unit 4 may determine by using not only the volume of the voice but also the prosodic information or the linguistic information. In addition, the confusion level determination unit 4 may integrate and determine a plurality of information such as voice, camera image, and heartbeat by using a general method such as a DNN (Deep Neural Network) method. In addition, the confusion degree determination unit 4 uses a general method such as the DNN method to obtain information other than voice from at least one of the occupant's facial expression, line of sight, behavior, heart rate, brain wave, and sweating amount. It may be judged individually. Further, when the occupant's experience value for the automatic control of the vehicle is high, the confusion degree determination unit 4 reduces the confusion degree in consideration of the high degree of understanding of the occupant for the automatic control of the vehicle. May be good. Further, the confusion level determination unit 4 increases the confusion level in consideration of the fact that the occupant's understanding of the automatic control of the vehicle is low when the occupant's experience with the automatic control of the vehicle is low. May be good. After that, the confusion degree determination unit 4 outputs the determined confusion degree to the information generation unit 6.

The recognition degree determination unit 5 acquires peripheral situation information, control information, and occupant state information from the occupant state acquisition unit 3. Then, the recognition degree determination unit 5 determines the recognition degree of the occupant with respect to the surrounding condition of the vehicle and the automatic control of the vehicle based on the state of the occupant by using the acquired information. For example, the recognition degree determination unit 5 detects the opening degree of the occupant's eyelids using a camera image or the like, determines whether or not the occupant is in the awake state based on the opening degree of the eyelids, and determines the occupant's awakening state, face orientation, and line-of-sight direction. Judge the confirmation status around the vehicle of the occupants based on the above. Then, the recognition degree determination unit 5 has a recognition degree of "low" if the occupant is in a non-awakening state such as during sleep, and is in a state of being awake but unable to visually recognize the situation outside the vehicle as if operating a smartphone or the like. For example, the recognition level is determined as "medium", and if the situation outside the vehicle can be visually recognized, the recognition level is determined as "high". Note that the recognition degree determination unit 5 may integrate and determine a plurality of pieces of information by using a general method such as the DNN method, similarly to the confusion degree determination unit 4. After that, the recognition degree determination unit 5 outputs the determined recognition degree to the information generation unit 6.

The information generation unit 6 acquires peripheral situation information and control information from the own vehicle situation acquisition unit 2, acquires the degree of confusion from the confusion degree determination unit 4, and acquires the recognition degree from the recognition degree determination unit 5. Then, the information generation unit 6 refers to the information generation table 7 and generates information to be provided to the occupant based on the surrounding situation information and control information, the degree of confusion, and the degree of recognition. The information generation method by the information generation unit 6 will be described later.

The information generation table 7 is, for example, a table that defines the amount of information to be provided to the occupants according to the degree of confusion and the degree of recognition for the control content. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an information generation table 7 included in the information providing device 1 according to the first embodiment. In the example of FIG. 2, the amount of information provided increases as the degree of confusion of the occupant increases with respect to the control content "automatic steering". In addition, the lower the occupant's awareness of the control content "automatic steering", the greater the amount of information provided. The type of information amount for the combination of the high and low levels of confusion and the high and low levels of recognition is not limited to the example of FIG. For example, the recognition level is "low", "medium" and "high" for the confusion level "low", and the recognition levels are "low", "medium" and "high" for the confusion level "medium". The information generation table contains a total of nine types of information, including three types of information, and three types of information, "low", "medium", and "high", with respect to "high" confusion. It may be specified by 7. Further, in the example of FIG. 2, the degree of confusion and the degree of recognition are expressed in three stages of "low", "medium", and "high", but the degree is not limited to these three stages. The degree of confusion and the degree of recognition may be expressed by numerical values from "1" to "100", for example, and in this case, finer control of the information provided to the occupant is possible.

Further, in FIG. 2, three types of information, warning only, warning and control content, and warning and control content and control factor, are illustrated as the amount of information to be provided to the occupant, but the amount of information is not limited to this. Information on warnings, control contents, and control factors is provided by sound, voice, display, or the like. In FIG. 2, the case where the control content is "automatic steering" is illustrated, but the control content is not limited to this, and may be "automatic braking", "turn right or left at an intersection", or the like. Further, in FIG. 2, information is provided to the occupants regardless of the values of the degree of confusion and the degree of recognition. However, for example, when the degree of confusion is "low" and the degree of recognition is "high", the information is not provided. It may be. As described above, the information generation unit 6 provides information when the degree of confusion is equal to or higher than the predetermined value and the degree of recognition is less than the predetermined value, and the degree of confusion is the predetermined value. Information may not be provided when the degree of recognition is less than or equal to or greater than the above-mentioned predetermined value.

Next, the operation of the information providing device 1 according to the first embodiment will be described.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the information providing device 1 according to the first embodiment. The information providing device 1 repeats the operation shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3, for example, while the engine of the vehicle is operating.

4A, 4B, and 4C are diagrams showing an example of providing information of the information providing device 1 according to the first embodiment. Here, as shown in FIG. 4A, a case where a display device, which is a kind of output device 12, is installed on an instrument panel of a vehicle will be taken as an example. Further, it is assumed that a speaker (not shown), which is a kind of output device 12, is also installed on the instrument panel.
Further, in the following, it is assumed that the vehicle control device 10 detects an obstacle in front of the vehicle and activates automatic steering in order to avoid the obstacle. In this case, the vehicle control device 10 outputs control information whose control content is "automatic steering" and peripheral situation information whose control factor is "detecting an obstacle in front" to the own vehicle status acquisition unit 2.

In step ST1, the own vehicle status acquisition unit 2 acquires the above-mentioned peripheral situation information and control information from the vehicle control device 10, and the occupant status acquisition unit 3 acquires the occupant status information from the input device 11.

In step ST2, the occupant state acquisition unit 3 detects whether or not the automatic control of the vehicle has been activated based on the control information acquired by the own vehicle status acquisition unit 2. When the occupant status acquisition unit 3 detects that the automatic control of the vehicle has been activated (step ST2 “YES”), the occupant status acquisition unit 3 recognizes the occupant status information within a certain time before and after the operation including the operation time by the confusion degree determination unit 4 and the recognition unit. The output is output to the degree determination unit 5, and in other cases (step ST2 “NO”), the process returns to step ST1.

In step ST3, the confusion level determination unit 4 determines the confusion level of the occupant within a certain time before and after the operation including the operation time, based on the occupant state information acquired from the occupant state acquisition unit 3. For example, as shown in FIG. 4A, when the volume of the surprised voice such as "What happened !?" of the occupant is 70 dB, the confusion level determination unit 4 determines that the confusion level is "high".

In step ST4, the recognition level determination unit 5 determines the peripheral condition of the vehicle and the vehicle's peripheral condition within a certain time before and after the operation, based on the peripheral condition information, the control information, and the occupant state information acquired from the occupant state acquisition unit 3. Determine the occupant's awareness of automatic control. For example, if the occupant is in an awake state and can grasp the control state of the own vehicle to some extent, but does not look out of the window and cannot completely recognize the situation outside the vehicle, the recognition degree determination unit 5 may perform the recognition level determination unit 5. , Judged as "medium" recognition.

In step ST5, the information generation unit 6 refers to the information generation table 7 and provides information according to the content of automatic control of the vehicle, the degree of confusion determined in step ST3, and the degree of recognition determined in step ST4. Generate. For example, when the control content is "automatic steering", the degree of confusion is "high", and the degree of recognition is "medium", the information generation unit 6 is based on the information generation table 7 as shown in FIG. The amount of information to be provided to the occupants is determined as a warning, control content, and control factor. Then, the information generation unit 6 generates a warning sound such as "pip-pip" or a warning screen for notifying the occupant that the automatic control has been activated. In addition, the information generation unit 6 generates at least one of a voice or a display screen for notifying the occupant of the control content "automatic steering". Further, the information generation unit 6 generates at least one of a voice or a display screen for notifying the occupant of the control factor "detection of an obstacle in front".

In step ST6, the information generation unit 6 outputs the information generated in step ST5 to the output device 12. When the degree of confusion is "high" and the degree of recognition is "low", the output device 12 provides the occupant with information on the warning, the control content, and the control factor generated by the information generation unit 6. For example, first, as shown in FIG. 4B, the information generation unit 6 causes a speaker, which is a kind of output device 12, to output a beeping sound. At the same time, the information generation unit 6 causes a display device, which is a kind of output device 12, to display a warning screen including a warning icon and the text "automatic steering". Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 4C, the information generation unit 6 attaches the speaker, which is a kind of the output device 12, to the "forward" which represents the control content "automatic steering" and the control factor "detects an obstacle in front". Has detected an obstacle, so it will be avoided by automatic steering. " At the same time, the information generation unit 6 causes the display device, which is a kind of output device 12, to display a screen showing the control content "automatic steering" and the control factor "detecting an obstacle in front".

For example, when the degree of confusion is "low" and the degree of recognition is "high", it is considered that the occupant understands why the automatic steering is activated. Therefore, the information generation unit 6 need only generate the warning sound or warning display information as shown in FIG. 4B in order to notify the occupant that the automatic steering has been activated.

Further, in FIGS. 4A, 4B and 4C, the information providing device 1 warns the occupant by using the speaker and the display device, but warns the occupant by vibrating the actuator built in the handle or the seat. May be good.

Finally, the hardware configuration of the information providing device 1 will be described.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration example of the information providing device 1 according to the first embodiment. The bus 100 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 101, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 102, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 103, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 104, a vehicle control device 10, an input device 11, and an output device 12. Is connected. The functions of the own vehicle status acquisition unit 2, the occupant status acquisition unit 3, the confusion degree determination unit 4, the recognition degree determination unit 5, and the information generation unit 6 in the information providing device 1 execute a program stored in the ROM 102 or the HDD 104. It is realized by the CPU 101. The CPU 101 may be capable of executing a plurality of processes in parallel by using a multi-core processor or the like. The RAM 103 is a memory used by the CPU 101 when executing a program. The HDD 104 is an example of an external storage device and stores the information generation table 7. The external storage device may be other than the HDD 104, and a disk such as a CD (Compact Disc) or a DVD (Digital Versaille Disc), or a flash memory such as a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory or an SD card is adopted. It may be storage or the like.

The functions of the vehicle status acquisition unit 2, the occupant status acquisition unit 3, the confusion degree determination unit 4, the recognition degree determination unit 5, and the information generation unit 6 are realized by software, firmware, or a combination of software and firmware. The software or firmware is described as a program and stored in the ROM 102 or HDD 104. The CPU 101 realizes the functions of each part by reading and executing the program stored in the ROM 102 or the HDD 104. That is, the information providing device 1 includes a ROM 102 or an HDD 104 for storing a program in which the step shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3 is eventually executed when executed by the CPU 101. Further, it can be said that this program causes the computer to execute the procedures or methods of the own vehicle status acquisition unit 2, the occupant status acquisition unit 3, the confusion degree determination unit 4, the recognition degree determination unit 5, and the information generation unit 6. ..

As described above, the information providing device 1 according to the first embodiment includes the own vehicle status acquisition unit 2, the occupant state acquisition unit 3, the confusion degree determination unit 4, the recognition degree determination unit 5, and the information generation unit 6. The own vehicle status acquisition unit 2 acquires information indicating the surrounding condition of the vehicle and information regarding automatic control of the vehicle. The occupant state acquisition unit 3 acquires information indicating the state of the occupants of the vehicle. The confusion level determination unit 4 determines the confusion level of the occupant using the information acquired by the occupant state acquisition unit 3. The recognition degree determination unit 5 determines the recognition degree of the occupant for the surrounding condition of the vehicle and the automatic control by using the information acquired by the own vehicle condition acquisition unit 2 and the occupant state acquisition unit 3. The information generation unit 6 provides information to the occupant using the information acquired by the vehicle status acquisition unit 2, the confusion degree determined by the confusion degree determination unit 4, and the recognition degree determined by the recognition degree determination unit 5. To generate. With this configuration, the information providing device 1 can change the information to be provided based on the degree of confusion of the occupant due to the automatic control of the vehicle, the surrounding situation of the vehicle before and after the occupant, and the degree of recognition of the occupant for the automatic control. Therefore, sufficient information can be provided to the occupants who are unfamiliar with the control contents of automatic driving or driving support by the vehicle control device 10 and feel uneasy, and can give a sense of security. Further, it is possible to reduce unnecessary information provision to the occupants who understand the control contents of automatic driving or driving support by the vehicle control device 10, and it is possible to suppress annoyance. Therefore, the information providing device 1 can provide just enough information.

Further, the information generation unit 6 of the first embodiment provides an amount of information to the occupant as the degree of confusion determined by the degree of confusion determination unit 4 is higher or the degree of recognition determined by the recognition degree determination unit 5 is lower. To increase. As a result, the information providing device 1 can increase or decrease the amount of information to be provided according to the degree of understanding of the occupant regarding the control content of the automatic driving or the driving support by the vehicle control device 10, so that the information can be provided in just proportion. ..

In the above, the confusion degree determination unit 4 determines the confusion degree of the occupant based on the occupant state information within a certain time before and after including the operation of the automatic control of the vehicle, but determines the past confusion degree with respect to the occupant. The history may be used to estimate the degree of confusion at the time of activation of the current automatic control. For example, if the current automatic steering is the third operation for the occupant, and the degree of confusion during the operation of the past two automatic steerings is both "high", the confusion degree determination unit 4 will perform the current occupant. The degree of confusion during operation is estimated to be "high" regardless of the state. In this way, the information providing device 1 can immediately and immediately provide appropriate information before the occupant is actually confused, so that it is possible to prevent the occupant from being confused.

Further, in the above, the information generation unit 6 simply generates information to be provided according to the level of recognition, but provides it based on how far the occupant specifically recognizes the surrounding situation and automatic control. You may try to generate the information to be used. For example, it is assumed that the vehicle control device 10 detects an obstacle in front of the vehicle and activates automatic steering in order to avoid the obstacle. In this case, the recognition degree determination unit 5 determines whether or not the occupant directs his / her line of sight to the outside of the vehicle and visually recognizes an obstacle in front of the vehicle based on the line-of-sight information of the occupant. When the recognition level determination unit 5 determines that the occupant is visually recognizing an obstacle in front of the vehicle, the information generation unit 6 determines that the occupant controls "automatic steering" and the control factor "obstacle in front". It is judged that "detection" is recognized, and information about automatic steering is not generated. On the other hand, when the recognition level determination unit 5 determines that the occupant is not aware of the obstacle in front of the vehicle, the information generation unit 6 determines that the occupant controls "automatic steering" and the control factor "front obstacle". It is determined that "object is detected" and information about automatic steering is generated. In this way, the recognition level determination unit 5 determines the surrounding conditions of the vehicle and the matters recognized by the occupant in the automatic control, and the information generation unit 6 recognizes the occupant by the recognition level determination unit 5. By generating information on the surrounding conditions of the vehicle and automatic control other than the matters determined to have been, it is possible to provide more appropriate information without excess or deficiency.

The information generation unit 6 obtains the surrounding situation information and control information acquired by the own vehicle status acquisition unit 2, the confusion degree determined by the confusion degree determination unit 4, and the recognition degree acquired by the recognition degree determination unit 5. If the information to be provided to the occupant is generated by using the information and is provided to the occupant, and then the degree of confusion newly determined by the confusion degree determination unit 4 does not decrease by more than a predetermined value, the amount of information to be provided to the occupant is determined. You may try to increase it. Here, it is assumed that the predetermined value corresponds to, for example, one level of confusion. The information generation unit 6 determines the amount of information to be provided according to the degree of confusion "medium" and the degree of recognition "high" as warnings and control contents, and after providing the information using the output device 12, the degree of confusion is "". If it does not decrease from "medium" to "low", even if the degree of confusion is "medium", control factors are added to the warning and the control content, and information is provided again. By doing so, the information providing device 1 can increase the amount of information in a situation where the amount of provided information is insufficient, and it is possible to provide more appropriate information without excess or deficiency.

Further, when the occupant's degree of confusion becomes high due to conversation with another occupant, the information generation unit 6 does not change the information provided to the occupant as it was before the degree of confusion became high. You may. In this case, the occupant state acquisition unit 3 determines that the plurality of occupants are having a conversation when the plurality of occupants are alternately speaking based on the voice from the input device 11. Alternatively, the occupant state acquisition unit 3 determines that the plurality of occupants are having a conversation when a plurality of occupants are speaking while looking at each other based on the camera image and the voice from the input device 11. May be good. Further, the occupant state acquisition unit 3 determines, based on the voice of the occupant, whether or not the occupant is speaking in a content unrelated to the surrounding conditions of the vehicle and automatic control. Then, in the information generation unit 6, when the degree of confusion of the occupants to be provided with information becomes high, and the occupant state acquisition unit 3 allows a plurality of occupants to have a conversation having no relation to the surrounding situation of the vehicle and automatic control. If it is determined that the information is provided, it is determined that the degree of confusion of the occupant to whom the information is provided has increased due to conversation with other occupants, and the information provided to the occupant is not changed. On the other hand, in the information generation unit 6, when the degree of confusion of the occupant to be provided with information becomes high, and whether the occupant is speaking or the occupant status acquisition unit 3 causes a plurality of occupants to automatically change the surrounding conditions of the vehicle and the vehicle. If it is determined that the conversation is related to control, it is determined that the degree of confusion of the occupant to whom the information is provided has increased due to the automatic control of the vehicle, and the information to be provided to the occupant is provided. Change according to the degree of confusion and recognition. By doing so, the information providing device 1 can prevent unnecessary information from being provided for confusion unrelated to automatic control, which causes annoyance to the occupants. Can be prevented.

Further, in the above description, the information providing device 1 has been described assuming that the target for providing information is one occupant, but it is possible to target all a plurality of occupants in the vehicle. In that case, for example, the information providing device 1 selects the occupant with the largest amount of information to be provided based on the degree of confusion and recognition of each occupant, and generates information according to the degree of confusion and recognition of the occupant. Then, the information is provided to all the occupants by using one output device 12 installed in the vehicle. Alternatively, the information providing device 1 may generate information individually according to the degree of confusion and recognition of each occupant, and may provide the information individually using the output device 12 installed in each seat. Good.

Further, in the above description, an example in which the information providing device 1, the vehicle control device 10, the input device 11, and the output device 12 are mounted on the vehicle has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this configuration. For example, the information providing device 1 is configured as a server device outside the vehicle, and the server device provides information by performing wireless communication with the vehicle control device 10, the input device 11, and the output device 12 mounted on the vehicle. May be good. In addition, the vehicle status acquisition unit 2, the occupant status acquisition unit 3, the confusion degree determination unit 4, the recognition degree determination unit 5, the information generation unit 6, and the information generation table 7 of the information providing device 1 are the server device, the smartphone, and the like. It may be distributed between the mobile terminal and the in-vehicle device.

Further, in the above description, the case where the information providing device 1 is applied to a four-wheeled vehicle has been described as an example, but it may be applied to a moving body such as a two-wheeled vehicle, a ship, an aircraft, and a personal mobility on which an occupant is on board.

It should be noted that, within the scope of the present invention, it is possible to modify any component of the embodiment or omit any component of the embodiment.

Since the information providing device according to the present invention provides information in consideration of the state of the occupant, it is suitable for use in an information providing device such as a vehicle that performs automatic driving or driving support.

1 Information providing device, 2 Own vehicle status acquisition unit, 3 Crew status acquisition unit, 4 Confusion level determination unit, 5 Recognition level determination unit, 6 Information generation unit, 7 Information generation table, 10 Vehicle control device, 11 Input device, 12 Output device, 100 bus, 101 CPU, 102 ROM, 103 RAM, 104 HDD.

Claims (9)

The own vehicle status acquisition unit that acquires information indicating the surrounding status of the vehicle and information related to the automatic control of the vehicle, and
An occupant status acquisition unit that acquires information indicating the occupant status of the vehicle, and
A confusion level determination unit that determines the confusion level of the occupant using the information acquired by the occupant state acquisition unit,
A recognition degree determination unit that determines the recognition degree of the occupant with respect to the surrounding condition of the vehicle and automatic control by using the information acquired by the own vehicle status acquisition unit and the occupant state acquisition unit.
Information generation that generates information to be provided to the occupant using the information acquired by the vehicle status acquisition unit, the confusion degree determined by the confusion degree determination unit, and the recognition degree determined by the recognition degree determination unit. An information providing device equipped with a unit. The claim is characterized in that the information generation unit increases or decreases the amount of information provided to the occupant according to the degree of confusion determined by the degree of confusion determination unit or the degree of recognition determined by the degree of recognition determination unit. 1. The information providing device according to 1. The information generation unit is characterized in that the amount of information provided to the occupant increases as the degree of confusion determined by the confusion degree determination unit increases or the degree of recognition determined by the recognition degree determination unit decreases. 2. The information providing device according to claim 2. The confusion degree determination unit uses at least one of the facial expression, line of sight, behavior, voice, heart rate, sweating amount, and number of rides of the occupant acquired by the occupant state acquisition unit to confuse the occupant. The information providing device according to claim 1, wherein the degree is determined. The information providing device according to claim 1, wherein the confusion degree determination unit estimates the current confusion degree by using the past confusion degree determination history for the occupant. The recognition degree determination unit determines the surrounding conditions of the vehicle and the automatic control that the occupant has recognized.
The first aspect of claim 1, wherein the information generation unit generates information on the surrounding conditions of the vehicle and automatic control other than the matters determined to have been recognized by the occupant by the recognition degree determination unit. Information providing device. The information generation unit provides the occupant with the information acquired by the vehicle status acquisition unit, the confusion degree determined by the confusion degree determination unit, and the recognition degree determined by the recognition degree determination unit. After the information is generated and provided to the occupant, if the degree of confusion newly determined by the confusion degree determination unit does not decrease by a predetermined value or more, the amount of information provided to the occupant is increased. The information providing device according to claim 1, which is characterized. The information providing device according to claim 1, wherein the information generating unit does not change the information provided to the occupant when the degree of confusion of the occupant becomes high due to a conversation with another occupant. The own vehicle status acquisition unit acquires information indicating the surrounding condition of the vehicle and information on the automatic control of the vehicle.
The occupant status acquisition unit acquires information indicating the occupant status of the vehicle, and
The confusion level determination unit determines the confusion level of the occupant using the information acquired by the occupant state acquisition unit.
The recognition degree determination unit determines the recognition degree of the occupant with respect to the surrounding situation of the vehicle and automatic control by using the information acquired by the own vehicle status acquisition unit and the occupant state acquisition unit.
Information provided by the information generation unit to the occupant using the information acquired by the vehicle status acquisition unit, the confusion degree determined by the confusion degree determination unit, and the recognition degree determined by the recognition degree determination unit. Information provision method to generate.

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